According to science, older siblings tend to be smarter
[CORRECTION]: In a previous version of this article, it was stated that the older sister was more intelligent, but this has been corrected because the research results speak only of older siblings in general without any gender distinction.
Since the family represents almost the totality of the interpersonal relationships that one has in the first years of life, scientific studies often focus on trying to investigate what effects the family can have on the development of the individual.
According to a very large study conducted by the University of Leipzig in Germany on 20,000 people of English, German, and American nationality, also the order in which one is born into a family could be fundamental.
By studying the personality of the participants and that of their brothers or sisters, the researchers arrived at rather unexpected conclusions.
via bbc.com
It is usually common to think that older children are more inclined to respect the rules and younger siblings are more undisciplined, but scholars have not found this difference in a marked way. Instead, differences in terms of intelligence, health, and personal relationships have come to their attention.
It emerged that the older brother or sister tends to be more intelligent than the younger siblings; in other words, they demonstrate a greater ability to understand abstract reasoning and have a more extensive vocabulary. Scholars have not been able to find a definitive explanation, but perhaps it derives from the status and expectations of the older siblings, who are more motivated to improve.
For their part, however, the younger siblings also have very positive aspects. Firstly, they tend to be healthier than their older siblings. This may be due to the fact that the older siblings "bring home" various types of bacteria, which allow the younger siblings to develop a stronger immune system. Moreover, the younger siblings, compared to the older ones, tend to express their will more strongly, even when their relational choices are in contrast with their parents.
Obviously, the conclusions of the study are not definitive (intelligence and health are also determined by other genetic and growth conditions). Nevertheless, this research seems quite interesting to us.
Have you found these differences in your own personal experience?
